My Love Affair With Adverts

With the rise of UGC and on demand media then advertising is slowly dwindling. I hear most people screaming with apparent ecstasy at this revelation, but I, and I can’t be the only one would be incredibly sad to see them disappear.

Many an hour has been sadly whiled away by perusing the delights of YouTube, and while I can often be found looking at the comedy classics such as this ingenious clip, more often than not I’m looking at adverts. That’s right, things that we’re supposed to ignore while we make the tea or use the loo, things that get in the way of our enjoyment of Lost and Hollyoaks.

One of my favourite adverts right now is this amazing clip from Haribo, which to me is frankly mesmerising. The fact that it’s on YouTube (and I didn’t put it there) coupled with the fact that there’s about a gazillion other adverts to look at, must mean that far from the death of advertising, we’re smack bang in the middle of a boom in advertising. Surely there can’t be any better endorsement for a company than to have their advert actively sought out and consumed?

The problem is of course that the advert has to have sufficient grabbing power to make someone want to seek it out, and, although I do love adverts, there are plenty that are infuriating, annoying or repetitive that make up a large bulk of the adverts currently on television (and in print), and if the traditional form of advertising is on its way out, then who’s going to pay for the media?

It’s a sad fact, and whether you love it or hate it, we all know that advertising makes up the bulk of media income, and if it’s going, then what is going to replace it?

We’re constantly hearing that journalism is changing, and nobody seems to know what the future holds, but perhaps the real question should be… What’s the future for advertising?